Le Vieux Forgeron
GALERIE D'ART
June 29th to July 16th, 2023
Jean Chatelois began painting at the age of 14. For many years, he followed the path of a self-taught artist. In the 1980’s Chatelois was able to benefit from an excellent course in drawing and painting techniques of old masters given at the Atelier Jacques Lajeunesse, Montréal. While simultaneously pursuing a professional career in clinical neuropsychology until his retirement in 2017, he participated in various group exhibitions including those at the Fesitvart in Frelishburg (1994, 1996), and Musée Beaulne in Coaticook (2016), as well as a solo exhibition, the “Passage des Arts” at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal in 2007. Since 2016, Chatelois is interested in abstraction, and explores different techniques using namely acrylic monotype painting.
Allyna Harris is a visual artist, musician and composer. She was born in Montréal, attended The New School of Dawson College and graduated with a BFA from Concordia University in piano performance and composition. Allyna has written music for art exhibitions and dance as well as recorded several albums of original music with guitarist Peter Mendieta. She is the founding and artistic director of the Choromondo World Music Women’s Choir. Allyna’s first solo exhibition was at the Musee Beaulne in 2011 and she has been active in Quebec’s Eastern Townships art scene ever since. Her creative process explores emotion, movement and light and is influenced by her musical training and her ongoing practice of observing and cherishing the natural world.
Diane Cameron’s interest in art began as a child doing crafts with her grandmother and has since led her to explore many different types of art over the years. She likes to use a variety of mediums that all feed each other and stimulate her artistic process, creating works that range from realistic to semi-abstract to abstract. Diane has taken part in many exhibitions around the world and her work can be found in both private and public collections.
To learn more about the artists, visit:
www.jeanchatelois.com ● www.allynaharris.com ● www.dianecameron.com
August 18th to September 4th, 2022
Oscar Antonio Machado, originally from Venezuela, has been living in Quebec for twelve years. Machado graduated from Marsan College of Photography in Montreal in 2019.
To get away from the hassles of everyday life, to relax, or simply to explore, Antonio finds amusement in reinvesting meaning into clichés, whether he's taking pictures of landscapes, people, or city life. For his exhibition “The Explorer”, Machado invites us into his world through a series of cityscape photographs.
he origin is without a home, it has no place; it is nomadic. Some carry this origin within them, this sense of belonging outside of
time and geography, upon this weight dons their freedom. Perhaps this black magma is the earth that Jean-Michel Cropsal's shoes carry like a ferryman of another shore.
- FRANÇOIS XAVIER MARANGE (translated)
Jean Michel Cropsal was born in 1947 to a French father and an Armenian mother. After spending his childhood in Morocco, he emigrated to France where he studied and worked in theatre in costume and set design. In 1975, Cropsal moved to Montreal where he collaborated with the Théâtre de Carton, the theatre Enfants du Paradis, Théâtre UBU and Danse—Cité. Later, he designed and created clothing that he exhibited and sold at the Salon des métiers d'art du Québec and at the One of a Kind Salon in Toronto. Throughout these years, Cropsal painted, drew and engraved, but has only been exhibiting his work since 2001.
Since 2006, Cropsal has returned to Morocco anually where he spends three months of the year. He also has a studio in Morroco, and exhibited in the country for first time in 2011. Cropsal has had group and solo exhibits in galleries in Canada, France, and Morroco, and his work can be found in multiple public and private collections throughout Canada and France. Cropsal has also been a member of the Workshop Circulaire in Montreal for 20 years.
ADAPTED AND TRANSLATED FROM TEXTS BY DANIEL CANTY AND VICTOR SILVA
July 28th to August 14th, 2022
Born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Aija Komangapik seeks to “play [with our] perspectives on environmentalism and culture” with her solo exhibition.
“Eskimo Playtime” includes digital art, painting, sculpture, and installations, all which “explore Inuk life through childish-seeming media to soften and challenge people’s preconceived notions of ‘the Eskimo’”.
Despite her young age, Aija is no stranger to the arts and has been nationally recognized numerous times for her work. In 2019, she won the Indigenous Arts and Stories contest from Historica Canada for her piece ‘Drum Dancer’, a digital image that showcases her passion for representing traditional Inuit images in modern and innovative media. At the Forgeron, Aija’s work includes a life-sized, six-foot tall sculpture with over 1,200 recycled bottle caps woven in to represent a stretched seal skin, illustrating the beautiful harmony between play and tradition in Inuit culture.
Seeking to give a voice to the rivers, lakes, forests, and meadows and their inhabitants, Dominique Gagnon’s concern is that landscape painting over the centuries to the present day have been largely visual, focusing very much on the view and in so doing, we have lost a physical connection, understanding, and respect for the land and all its living creatures. In exploring this gap between representation and responsibility, her goal is to show the natural world not as a picturesque landscape but, also through beauty, in a way that asks us to question what is going on ‘behind’ what we see. Using materials found in nature such as mineral pigments for watercolour, handmade paper from cotton rags and encaustic (beeswax and tree resin), her mixed media paintings inspire us to see beyond the visual and to “try to ignite in the viewer a desire tore-enchant the natural world with which we interact,” thereby deepening our respect and care for it.
Fish, a beaver, a skunk and a six-foot high turkey vulture are some of the eye-catching paper mâché sculptures on display by Agnes McKenna Power that honour the local wildlife around us, a“celebration of where we are and the animals that are with us.” A printmaker and painter as well, her love for and deep connection to the land of the Township’s is reflected in all her work. “It is a challenge when starting with paper mâché. To create something very detailed and refined is a long process,” says Agnes. “You really have to look at skeletons and anatomy, moving parts.” Not only does she find this fun, it is also educational and a beautiful homage to the creatures we share the land with.
July 7th to 24th, 2022
Flashes of Light
Alexandra MacDougall
oil and watercolour painting
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Alexandra’s new collection is inspired by her observation of nature in the countryside near her home in the Eastern Townships. While most of the watercolours and inks are painted “en plein air” during the warmer days, the oil paintings are worked on in her Montreal studio during the cooler seasons.
As with much work that explores “place” as a theme, emotions run deep in these paintings. The artist paints nature to bring out its silent, unspoken language,a language“resonant in our own being.” This is particularly evident in the light the artist captures, as she vigorously renders the almost musical play of light and shadow, be it from deep within a forest, a pond under noon day sun, or storm clouds over the lake. Alexandra’s work moves easily back and forth between figurative and abstract;what is consistent is her distinctive,dynamic mark-making, colours and textures.
Sacred Journey of the Heart
Kim Prangley
digital photography
A second-generation Canadian with heritage from England,Scotland and Ireland, Kim's connection to the British Isles has always been very present and alive. She has traveled to the UK and Ireland many times, visiting over 30 stone circles, sacred sites and neolithic structures. During a trip to Wales in 2005, she had a mystical experience that instigated the creation of the Stanstead Stone Circle four years later. Kim’s collection Sacred Journey of the Heart are photos from her most recent trip in 2021.
June 16th to July 3rd, 2022
Third Annual Bishop's and Champlain Student show
Historical Exhibition
The historical exhibition documents the evolution of Rock Island over the last 130 years.
The student exhibition features work from Faustine Gruninger, Cécilia Alain, Jasmine Brien, Rébéka Hudon, Isadora Alcindor-Limoges, Tosha Callaway, and Diana Callaway.